Weekend Box Office Wrap Up: October 13, 2013

No film could touch the reigning box office king on a weekend when most of the top 10 couldn’t even gross more than $4 million.

Gravity retained the top spot this weekend with $44 million, only a 20% drop from last weekend. Not only that, the film posted a solid $12,094 per-screen-average. With $123 million after two weeks, Gravity has already surpassed its $100 million budget and shows no signs of stopping.

In at number 2 is Captain Phillips (read our review) with $26 million. Although the film had stiff competition in the form of Gravity, the recent history subject matter and a strong marketing push from Sony proved too compelling for a lot of moviegoers to pass up.

Although it’s been a few years since he’s had a strong box office opening, Captain Phillips‘ box office performance proves that Tom Hanks is still a highly bankable star. And, based on early rumblings from critics, we might be hearing more about Hanks’ performance come awards show time.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 held strong in the number 3 spot with $14 million. Sony’s animated sequel has now matched its $78 million budget, but it’s well behind its predecessor, which was tickling the $100 million mark at this point.

Opening at number 4 is Machete Kills (read our review) with $3.79 million. Heading into the weekend, estimates had Machete Kills pulling in about $10 million, but clearly audiences were less interested in the film.

While the first Machete wasn’t exactly a blockbuster – opening with around $11 million – Open Road Films was likely expecting much more out of this sequel. Thankfully, the Machete premise lends itself well to a low budget, so perhaps the film could make its money back with a combination of box office returns and home video sales.

Rounding out the top 5 is Runner Runner with $3.72 million, which brings its domestic total up to a paltry $14 million after two weeks. Runner Runner is certainly not the worst box office performance for a Ben Affleck film, but it’s a far stretch from last year’s Oscar winner, Argo.

The Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman thriller Prisoners is the number 6 film with $3.6 million. The film is now up to $53 million after four weeks.

The number 7 film is Insidious: Chapter 2 with $2.65 million, up one spot from last weekend. We’d say for a horror sequel that only cost $5 million to make, a $78 million domestic gross after 5 weeks has the folks at Film District very happy.

Rush is the number 8 film with $2.364 million. Now at $22 million, it looks like this Ron Howard-directed biopic will not make back its $38 million budget. It could, however, potentially nab a few awards show nominations.

In at number 9 is Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Don Jon with $2.34 million. The film has made $20 million after three weeks; not bad for a film that only cost $6 million to make.

Coming in at number 10 is Baggage Claim with $2 million, which brings the comedy’s domestic total up to $18 million. After three weeks, the film has barely made a dent on the box office.

[NOTE: These are only weekend box office estimates - based on Friday and Saturday ticket sales coupled with adjusted expectations for Sunday. Official weekend box office results will be released on Monday, October 14th - at which time we'll update this post with any changes.]

Wish you would include the global numbers in the dollar figures for films. With that market being ever more important, it would be useful information. For instance, Prisoners is over $75 million globally and only opened in a few markets with more to go.

gravity was a very silly movie with lots of noise and good visual effects, the story was terrible. apollo 13 and armaeggadon were still better films. it was like watching a national geographic astronaut special on the big screen. dont waste imax or 3d money to see it, watch it
as an early bird special. everyone is kissing its behind because warners
did a good job of fooling people into seeing it. (myself included)
george clooney was grossly underused in gravity.